Taylor Swift Will Return to Chiefs Games, Travis Kelce Teasingly Tells Fans

Reading headlines about recent Kansas City Chiefs football games, one has to wonder if the relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is being held to an unrealistic standard. The singer “snubbed” her tight end boyfriend by skipping recent games, while Kelce “looked miserable” on the field, staring morosely “into the distance,” we’re told. Citing debunked social media rumors of a “breakup contract” between the pair, publications as august as The Economic Times reported that Swift’s absence has spurred betting sites to increase the odds that the pair will part within months. Those bookies might want to have a rethink, however, as Kelce says his famous girlfriend will be back in the stands for his next game, after a two-game absence.

Kelce dropped the news Saturday, during his Kelce Car Jam charity event, a 35th birthday celebration for the athlete that doubles as a car show and fundraiser for Kelce’s Eighty-Seven and Running Foundation. When Kelce stopped at a food tent staffed by workers from Louisiana-based chicken chain Raising Cane’s, one of the first things he was asked was if Swift would be showing up for the party. “She will not be here,” the New York Post quotes him as saying. However, “I know she’s coming in for the game.”

The game Kelce is referring to is Monday night’s matchup with the New Orleans Saints, which will kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium. That detail—that it’s a home game, not an away one as the last two were—might hold the key to Taylor Swift’s presence, if recent reports are correct: According to an anonymous source quoted by Page Six, “If she is going to a place that isn’t Arrowhead, there are security concerns” that make her attendance more difficult. “She has worked with Arrowhead so many times, they feel at ease and comfortable. Going to all kinds of different stadiums, you need to send a team in advance,” the source said.

Even if rumors that Swift is eschewing away games out of security fears are pure speculation, it’s speculation based on a certain amount of fact. Given the credible allegations that a terror attack was planned for her since-canceled Vienna shows, as well as influential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s announcement that he hates her, it’s likely that Swift’s already-on-alert security team is under an all-new level of pressure.

That said, let’s remember that the singer also has billions of responsibilities that might keep her from games, including a resumption of her Eras Tour with a three-day stop in Miami from October 18 to 20. One also has to wonder if—as Swift sings in what’s since become an occasional Kamala Harris marching song—her attendance or lack thereof would be as obsessed over if she were a man. For example, following his Super Bowl win, Kelce attended some of Swift’s Eras Tour shows, but he certainly wasn’t there for all of them. It’s likely that some of his absences were related to his Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? hosting duties, or his role in the new Ryan Murphy series Grotesquerie.

But other times, it’s likely he just didn’t feel like getting on a plane! Or he wanted to spend time with family or friends! Or, like so many of us who have lives that extend beyond our romantic relationships, he just had other shit to do. That wasn’t questioned nearly as much as Swift’s whereabouts these past weeks. But as she sings in “The Man,” while men are praised for foregoing social engagements in favor of hustle, work, or “raking in dollars,” women are expected to dress up, take their seats, and smile as though absolutely nothing could ever be wrong.

We can’t see the future, but assuming Kelce’s overhead remarks to a couple of chicken finger vendors were true, we’ll likely see Swift in the stands again Monday night. And, if so, fans would be wise to drink in the view, as Swift’s tour dates will probably keep her from Chiefs games until at least December 15, when the Chiefs play the Cleveland Browns at that team’s Huntington Bank Field. Given those away game security rumors, we might have to wait until Saturday, December 21 to see Swift at a match, as that’s when the Chiefs return home to will play the Houston Texans.